Wipe Before You Swipe: NRT Offers Toilet Paper For Smartphones

One of the world’s major airports has equipped its public toilets with rolls of paper resembling toilet tissue, designed to let passengers wipe and disinfect their smartphones.

The airport is Tokyo’s NRT, and the toilet paper for smartphones has been installed on the walls of toilet stalls, adjacent to regular toilet rolls.

The smartphone rolls looks like standard toilet paper, though the rolls are smaller. The paper itself bears a prominent sign saying “Welcome to Japan.”

Japanese mobile company NTT Docomo is financing the initiative, which is why the rolls bear details of the company’s public Wi-Fi networks and smartphone travel app.

A strange, funny, and, we have to admit, informative YouTube video clip explains how to use toilets in Japan. (It’s more complicated than you might think.)

As well as wisely counselling against washing hands in the bidet-like stream offered by many Japanese toilets, the video imparts other useful information, including details of the smartphone wipes.

“There are more than 5 times as many germs on a smartphone screen as compared to a toilet seat,” NTT Docomo declares, before describing how visitors can clean their screens and “enjoy their travel hygienically.”

The initiative rolled out in December and surprised travellers continue to share photos and reactions on Twitter.

"Toilet paper for smartphones ... only in #Japan," one user tweeted.

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